


Monkey D. Saphyr

by Rubyy



Series: The Will [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: A Bit of Fluff, And failing royally, Angst, Because it's not funny if they don't, Childhood, Childhood always sucks at some point, F/M, Family Feels, Parents trying, Pre One Piece, Prequel, Romance Dawn, Shitty Childhood, Well It's One Piece guys, almost, did I mention angst already?, ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:20:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23318995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rubyy/pseuds/Rubyy
Summary: The fire was warm against their skin. They didn't talk. There was no reason to. Everything was quiet around them. Peaceful. Calm.She closed her eyes and expended her other senses as much as she could. To enjoy the feeling oh his skin against hers. His breath, the beating of his heart.Things were rarely quiet around here. Even less when it was about them.But tonight, somehow, it was.He moved behind her back, his hand softly gripping her hair to push them away."Oi.""What do you want?""Tell me your story."..."What?""Your story. Tell me.""Why do you want to know?""Why not?"The silence kept going for a couple more minutes."Alright."
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy & Original Female Character(s), Monkey D. Luffy & Portgas D. Ace, Portgas D. Ace/Original Female Character(s)
Series: The Will [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2145615
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	Monkey D. Saphyr

_I don’t remember much about the early years of my life. I know my mother was with me much of the time. I remember her hands, pale and soft. So small in the big brown calloused palms of my father. I remember her smile soft like her hands, and so pretty. She looked like an angel. I remember her eyes, bluer than the endless sky. Or like the sea. Like mines._

_I knew Father loved her. So much he broke off after her. He'd never been the same since then. A classic, really. When you think about it, this is like one of these stories where a lone strong man with unbreakable convictions cannot heal from his woman's death. So tragically classical._

_I think my first real memory of this time is the day my mother died. I remember her screams, the dark grey door that kept me away from her. I remember the green cape that slapped my face as Father came by me to enter inside the room. The tension in his face, his dark gaze crossing mine for a second. I remember the people inside all dressed in white with red on their arms and torso. I remember the forced smiles some of the adults gave me, how they became rarer as the hours defiled._

_I thought they’d never stop. The screams. I was too small to really understand how time worked. I just knew she had been screaming for a long time._

_No matter how long it had been since that day, I think I will never forget those screams. They are the truest thing I knew back then. Them and the nightmares they pledged for years after._

_I still dream about it from time to time._

_And there was this door. Closed right in front of my face. How I hated that door. Dull grey and the direct obstacle between me and my mother’s screams._

_I remember crying for hours, afraid for my mother, afraid of her screams, and the peoples around, telling me how I was supposed to be strong, to calm down a little, that it was enough and I had to keep quiet. How could I be? I had no idea what was happening. I was two, and I was scared._

_I thought they’d never stopped._

_Except they did, at some point. The silence that followed that couldn't have lasted more than a couple of minutes. But for me back then, it sounded endless. No one made a single sound. I don’t even remember if I was breathing or not. The silence was complete and utterly terrifying._

_Then it broke with another scream. This one sounded higher pitched. Like the wail of a kitten. A very loud very annoying kitten._

_I don’t remember much after the first cry. It’s been a long time. But I do remember that fucking door. Always closed. She must have opened at some point, but I can never picture it any other way than closed._

_I don’t really know how, but I found myself unburdened at some point by a small white bundle in my tiny little arms. A moving white bundle. A moving, noisy white bundle._

_One of the nurses – or at least I think she was a nurse… I don’t really know for sure- was looking down at me with a sad face explaining that my mother had to leave us and that she wanted me to take care of my father and the little thing in my arms._

_Of course, I asked what it was._

“ _This is your little brother Luffy. Take care of him Saphyr-chan, this is very important. You are a big sister now, it’s a great responsibility. You have to take care of him now that your mother-...” had said the woman her voice wavering in the middle of her words._

_I didn’t understand of course. But the mention of my mother had been enough to satisfy me at the time. My little brain hadn’t got what it meant for them to talk about my mother in the past tense._

_All I knew right now was this job my mother supposedly gave me._

_I often heard it say that the first sight a mother take of his child is like everything makes sense again. Love at first sight. I don’t really get it._

_When I think of a newborn baby, the first thing that comes to my mind is a small, noisy, flushed thing, vaguely looking like a human being. The wrinkled purpled face of my baby brother. Luffy._

_I remember looking at it, founding a tiny face grimacing back at me, with eyes so puffed I couldn't even tell if it had eyes and not only two tiny slots from where he could see._

_Just like that, I had lost my mother and gain a little brother alongside. A strange little thing called Luffy._

_I know little next to nothing about the days that followed my mother’s death. Once, someone told me that Luffy and I were placed in the same room that was mine before. And I indeed remember this room, big and empty. With my little bed, some rare toys, a chair where mother liked to cuddle me, and this lonely bassinet from where Luffy cries kept coming. Days after days. The only times he didn’t cry was when the nurse that was caring for him, fed him with this disproportionated bottle._

_Someone must have told me about my mother's death. I cried a lot at the time, that I can remember. But, otherwise, I had trouble thinking about everything._

_I remember hating that bassinet, and the cries Luffy kept making, days after days. I wanted to make him stop. To keep it quiet. To be left alone in my misery._

_So much that one day I ended up pushing the thing. It fell and the cries stopped. For one second I thought I killed it. It didn’t get the concept of death yet. I only knew it meant my mother would never be with me again._

_But then the blanket moved. So I pushed it away. What I found under it was very different than what I thought. Gone was the disgraceful little thing, puffed and purple-like. It was small, white, with a patch of black hair on top of it. Two huge brown eyes looked right back at me, huge and round._

_He looked cute. Like a doll. He seemed as surprised to see me as I was._

_Then he smiled._

_It was a giant ugly smile, full of pink gum and drool, but still. A smile._

_I recall thinking this tiny little thing was the first being to smile at me since my mama had left me. I know I cried. Again._

_I took him in my arms and cuddle him. Like mama used to do with me on her big rocking chair. I didn’t let go of him, even when he needed to be fed. I even fed him myself more than once._

_I’m pretty sure I started to love my little brother that day. He was everything I had in this dark empty room where father hid us._

_I refused to be away. He was nothing but a small baby, not even old enough to talk or walk. But he was something. A little thing alive, that looked like me and mama and papa, and that smiled at me. Every time I talked to him, he smiled at me._

_I didn’t want him to be away. I was so scared to lose that little thing. To be alone. I thought, if that nurse lady took him from me, I will be left alone. And I knew my mama had wanted me to take care of him. I wanted to make my mama proud. In my innocence, I thought that if I made a good job at being a sister, my mama would come back to me._

_It took Father a long time to remember us. I learned later that we stayed six full months within this room. Shortly after I turned three, we saw him again. Unfortunately, it wasn't because he missed us. No, it would have been so simple. But, like often, others had to remind him of his children's existence._

_The Marines and The World Government didn't like us. At all. He was THE enemy. The man to kill at all costs. And, as I learned later, being Father’s children wasn’t helpful to start a good life. As a consequence, we’d never stay in one place for that long. When my mama was alive, I don’t remember being at one place more than for a few days. Sometimes they talked about a safe place, a permanent one. That we just had to hide a little bit more, just the time for Father’s Army to prepare this place. But then Mother died, and no one talked to me anymore. I think that with mother's death, it was hard for Father to leave this place._

_But not moving for six months was enough for Marines to found our traces._

_I don’t remember much about the attack. At some point, one of Father’s men came to take us to a boat. I remember our nurse’s corpse, as we escaped. Her empty eyes that followed me until we left the room. I remember those white corridors, empty. With those doors, all closed. And the sound of our savior footsteps. Luffy’s cries. He cried a lot too at the time._

_Not that it changed much now in a way._

_Somehow, at the end of the day, we did it. We escaped the place, leaving a bunch of Marines and a raging storm. We found ourselves in a large office, with papa, the man who took us away and two other guys I had no idea who they were._

_Someone took Luffy from me and put him in a small crib on the desk. Adults around me were talking, and all I could do was staying close to the desk, and grab my brother's little fist. He smiled at me, like always, and for a time all was fine._

_It was the last time I saw him. On the morrow, Father took him away, I didn't know where and kept me with him. I didn’t understand why first._

_I asked him after a time. One or two weeks maybe. But I asked. What he told me that day, made me understand, finally, that I had lost my papa the same day I had my mother._

“ _You’ll never see your brother again. You are destined to another path, my girl. We have to prepare the world for children like him. For freedom, we have to sacrifice our loved people.”_

_I didn't listen past the first sentence. I was alone. Again._

_I screamed, I cried, I pleaded. Nothing changed his mind. My father had sentenced me to a life without the little thing my mother wanted me to protect. I was inconsolable. I cried myself to oblivion, again and again. Until I couldn't produce any tears._

_The years that followed that disastrous one were lonely. Dragon put me in another room. Smaller than the last one, but just as empty. Instead of a bassinet, the only other piece of furniture was a small desk where I had to learn my lessons._

_The only light was a large window, that touched the ceiling, allowing me to stare at a perpetually grey sky and the high wall that prevented me to see the outer world._

_After a couple of months, they gave me a large trunk where I could stock my clothes and the numerous books my professors gave me to read. Father wanted me to be educated._

_I spend hours and hours at this desk from the tender age of four. Learning how to read, write, count, History, Geography… and so many things. To be perfectly honest, I’ve forgotten half of it._

_My evenings were spent close to the window, looking at the young recruits training in the yard._

_Some of them were barely older than me._

_But I couldn't talk to them. I was hiding in the belly of our fortress. Like a dirty little secret. The rare people aware of my existence even called me a princess at the time. Like I was some kind of precious thing, only known off by a couple of special people who had learned Father's trust._

_I hated it._

* * *

“You bet!”

“Shut it freckles! You want to hear the rest or what?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“ Well, I can stop if you want.”

“Who said you could woman?”

SBAFF

“Aouch! Alright alright, tell your story you menace!”

“Much better. So.”

* * *

_I hated this room so. I was alone. Nobody cared about my existence. Nobody was aware of my existence. Nobody except the few teachers my father was good enough to send me. And even they didn’t care as much for the paycheck they get from it then they cared for me._

_Days were always the same. Only differentiated by the subject of the lesson, or the professor._

_I had four of them. Kuma teaches me to write and read, an old man with long arms teach me mathematics and another one, fat and ugly teach me History and Geography. As I grew older, the fourth one started to teach me battle strategy and the basis of life on a boat. When I asked why, as we were on an island and not a boat, Dragon explained how as our world was a majority of oceans with only islands and a massif single continent, knowledge on this particular subject was essential if I wanted to live._

_As I think about it now, he surely had to think about his army before anything else. He wanted me to join him. I wonder what happened inside his head. I hated this place. How could I join him?_

_At first, I could have. When I spend my days in this lonely room. I could have done anything to go outside and spend time with other people. To be a child._

_But then, one day, maybe a month or two before my sixth birthday, Dragon decided it was time to train me._

_The first time I went outside, I was so excited. I hadn't slept the day before. Not even a minute. Finally, I could go outside, like everybody else. I could play in the grass, run around the fortress, even play with the other kids._

_I happily followed Kuma’s steps as he took me outside. I couldn’t stop smiling. Father had told me he would train me himself. I was about to spend an entire day with my papa! It’s been so long._

_How naive of me._

_Kuma took me to a court, surrounded by walls with only my father, Kuma and a strange person with a giant head and purple hair._

“ _Girl.”_

“ _Papa?”_

“ _Fight me.”_

“ _He?”_

_Without another word, he attacked. His arms covered in some black thing, he charged with incredible speed._

_That was hard for a wake-up call. For a little girl who never even had the chance to run somewhere, that was impossible to dodge it. I hit one of the walls, faster than I had imagined it possible._

_It hurt so much. I remember curling into a ball, my head between my hands._

“ _PAPA! Why did you do that!? It hurt!”_

“ _Hm. Weak. Kuma, make her stronger. I can’t let her stay that weak.”_

“ _Papa! I-”_

“ _I’ll be back when she’ll show some strength.”_

_Just like that, he left me again. I was alone with a teacher._

“ _Kuma-sensei.”_

“ _Saphyr.”_

“ _Why does Father hate me so much?”_

_He didn't respond. I wondered if that was because he didn't know, or if he didn't want to make me sad._

_I was sad._

_But then, I thought about it. Father wanted me stronger. Maybe if I became stronger, I could impress him enough for him to agree to spend some time with me._

_With that objective in mind, I accepted my fate and trained under Kuma's watchful eye. Every morning, I found him behind my door. He took me to this court and made me run. For hours. Until I couldn’t even stay on my legs. The first few days, I had to crawl back into my room. The worst of it was that I wasn't supposed to go back to sleep. I was barely back inside, that my first lesson started. I had to learn, then eat my lunch, and go back to training. The afternoons were for close combat training. Fist fighting at first, then with small blades. Kuma didn't want me to use bigger swords like saber or katana._

_Seemed logic, as more often than not I was smaller than those blades. And weak enough to broke my arms trying to pull it up._

_God, I was pathetic._

_After hours of training, I was back in my room for two more hours of lesson. Then, I could eat my dinner and go to sleep._

_I suffered this for months, always pushing myself harder and harder until I couldn't stand anymore. I wanted to be stronger. So papa would be proud of me. So papa would look at me. Love me even?_

_A part of me, a secret one, hoped that maybe if I was good enough I could see my little brother again. With the years I barely remembered him, just like I barely remember those days now. But I knew at some point, I hadn't been left alone in this room. That someone else was with me. Someone my mama asked me to protect._

_I wanted to make my mama and my papa proud._

_Three months after his first try, Dragon came back to see me. One afternoon, as I was endlessly punching Kuma's annoying paw, always coming back no matter how many times I have pushed away. He steps into the courtyard, all wrapped in his cloak. My heart was beating hard as I was refilled with an energy I didn’t know I still had. I fought harder than I ever had, punching and punching and throwing knives as my life depended on it._

_In a sense, it was good to believe so._

_I was quite proud at the time, to last ten full second again Kuma's paw. When he inevitably pushed me back to my already several times Saphyr-shaped wall, I smiled proudly at my father._

_He looked at me, with this unreadable expression of his. Not even batting an eyelash._

“ _Train her more Kuma. It’s not even enough to hurt a fly.”_

_Disappointment._

_But I wasn’t discouraged. Yet. I tried harder._

_The next time he came, one month later, I could last thirty seconds against one of Kuma's hands._

“ _Not enough.”_

_I tried harder._

“ _Not enough.”_

_Harder._

“ _She could do much better. It’s almost sad to see.”_

_Harder._

“ _She had to be stronger. Push her more. It’s not enough.”_

_Finally. After the eighth month of constant training, I asked._

“ _Why?”_

_That stopped him. I was exhausted, every single muscle in my body hurt, my head was bleeding and my hairs were entering in my mouth with each inspiration. I couldn’t even distinguish his silhouette with my clouded vision. I was exhausted._

“ _Why do I have to become so strong Father?”_

_I had given up the "papa" at this point. Part of me didn’t believe in a papa anymore._

“ _Do you know what we are doing here Saphyr?”_

_I blinked. That was the first time I heard him say my name. In all my life. Or at least the bit I could remember._

_I took a couple of seconds to respond._

“ _Well, you are the leader of The Revolutionary, you want to overthrow the World Government and every single bit of the Tenryuubito system. The slaves, the Marines. All of it. You want something better for the future.”_

_He turned his head, his red tattooed skin almost shining with the sun._

_"That's true. And you, my girl, will have to be the face who will bear this Revolution. My legacy. When the time will come, you'll be one of the pillars of our movement."_

_Legacy? He wanted me to be-_

_Why me? Why did he want it to be me?_

“ _Why? Why me?”_

“ _The Government is ruled by men. A new world needs new rules. A woman as the head of this new world, founded by her blood, her family, can only mean change. You, my girl, will inherit this new world and the Revolution after me.”_

_That was it. I never understood why, with every lesson my teachers gave me about legacy, heritage and male member of the family supposed to carry the Family will, I never understood why it was Luffy that had been sent away, while he was a boy, and me a girl, had to stay._

_Now I understood. Father wanted me to be the image of his fight. The only problem was I didn't want to do any of that._

“ _But- I don’t want to fight. I just- I want to be with my papa.”_

“ _You’ll do as I say. You’re not a baby anymore. You don’t need cuddle or comfort. You need to become strong. So grow up and be strong my girl.”_

_Something broke inside me that day._

_Couldn’t say what exactly. I tried to keep going, but the will wasn’t there after that. I didn’t want to be what my father wanted me to be. I didn’t see the point. He was fighting for freedom. Why would I do the same, me who never even tasted said freedom?_

_All I even knew was those walls and a white corridor from where I could hear a woman's cries. And that was it._

_I felt trapped in this room, in this courtyard. In this fortress. In my skin. So trapped I couldn’t even breathe anymore. I was a mess half of the time._

_I think that was the first time I had a panic attack. I spend long, long minutes on the floor of my room, without air to feel my lungs, crying endlessly for someone to save me._

_It was Ivankov that found me. I never quite knew what he was doing here. I never asked. He found me on the floor, and bring me out of panic. He held me as I caught my breath, tear stream half dry on my cheeks. He kept asking me if I was okay, what was wrong if I needed anything. I didn't answer. To any of it._

_I don’t think I ever spoke to him in fact, now that I think about it._

_After some time, he let go and allow me to curl into a tight ball under my blankets._

_Nobody could have convinced me to do anything that day._

_I don’t know exactly how it started. But somehow, along the way, I made a discovery._

_Being the perfect little soldier my father wanted me to be didn't work to catch his attention. However, being an annoying little brat worked pretty well. More than well in fact. People couldn’t ignore me if I did so._

_I started with small things at first. When Kuma ordered me to go back to my room, I stuck a small pen in my door to keep it open. Then, when no one looked, I went out. I explored the Fortress, taking longer and longer as so one noticed that I was gone. The first time it didn't last longer than twenty minutes. Then thirty, then forty. Each time I pushed a little bit more the limits given by all of Father's rules. I learned that rules weren't absolute law. That I could do anything I wanted. I just had to not be caught._

_Still, I was seven. Of course, I was caught._

_The first time I was cached, one of my teachers found me. He ground me a little, but that was it. He didn't even report my little escapade to my Father. I didn't get punished. Nothing. Maybe he couldn't. Maybe having my father as a parent could be useful?_

_So I did what every kid would have done at my place._

_I reiterated._

_Longer and longer. Every two days at first, then every day. When it still didn't work, I disappear an entire day._

_That started to do the trick. When I came back, late in the evening, everyone was panicked. Like, really panicked. Even better, Father was here. He saw me first. He almost jumps right on me, his face clouded with fury._

“ _Where were you?!”_

_I was ecstatic. He was paying attention to me. Finally. But I knew what I did was against the rules. So I had to be careful. I wasn't supposed to show Joy a the idea._

_Despite everything, I didn't want to be punished. Just to have some attention from my Father._

“ _I just went for a walk.”_

_"A walk? Since when is it permissible for you to take a walk? You're supposed to study today! You missed every single one of your lessons!"_

“ _Well, now I'm back. I just wanted to take a break, that's it."_

“ _To take a break? You don't have time to take a break! You have to be prepared for what's waiting for you. You will be more important than anyone on this base Saphyr. You can't let yourself be childish like this."_

_He lectured me for ten long minutes, quickly lowering his voice to his usual deep baritone. But I didn't listen to one beat. All that mattered for me was that for those ten long minutes, his attention was only on me. Nothing else but me mattered to him for those times._

_Of course, it didn't last._

_He sends me to my room this evening. I had strict orders to stay here for the night and the entire day after as a punishment._

_I hoped he would come to me, look out if I was alright sometime during the day. He didn’t. Of course._

_But that was okay. It worked once. I could make this work again._

_Two days after the incident, I disappeared again. This time, they seemed prepared. They brought me back thirty little minutes after my escape. I was disappointed. Father was too. It hurt me to disappoint him, I still cared at the time. But I hurt more to be left alone on this lonely room I started to despise more than anything I knew of this world._

_I understood I had to be smarter. Way smarter for that. So I started to think of my escapes as a battle plan. A strategy was essential. I learned patience. I waited for a good opportunity, the right time for me to go._

_I don’t exactly know when it stopped being a way to get my father’s attention and started being something like a true escape attempt…_

_I had to be as quick and discreet as possible. Smart, quick and silent. I was small, and I knew I could trick them. For a time. With each day I could go farther and farther inside the fortress. Part of me hoped one day I could go out. I enjoyed it. It was an adventure. For someone like me, who only knew my room and the small training ground Kuma brought me in, it was a bit like freedom._

_Except they still caught me. All the time. In the end, I could never escape completely._

_Every day was a new room to discover._

_The one I preferred was where the Revolutionary Army stored their treasured belongingness. There was a lot of gold of course. Million and Millions of Berrys. I guess preparing a Revolution did cost much. But I wasn't interested in the gold. The rest of it, however... All the rare and unusual things Father stored in this giant room. There were so many things, jewelry, books, really anything could be found in there. Even strange fruits with peculiar colors and forms._

_But we’ll come to that bit later._

* * *

“Now that’s something I wanna hear.”

“Shut up then, I’m talking.”

“You take too lon-aouh! Why did you do that!”

“You’re too loud. I’m telling you a story there, be nice freckles.”

“Meany.”

* * *

_Unfortunately, my newfound freedom didn’t last. One day, as always I went on my own instead of waiting for my teacher in my room like the good girl I was supposed to be, Father went to look for me. He found me even quicker than anyone ever did until then. I was just out of my room, ready to run onto the corridor when he falls on me like some sort of rapacious or something._

“ _Where do you think you’re going?”_

_The menace clearly eared in his tone made me shiver. He looked furious. Some years before I would have back up in fear confronted at this gaze, but years and bitterness had made me braver. I didn’t like his gaze. He may have been my father but he had no right to look at me like that when the only time he actually noticed me was when I didn’t do as he wanted._

_Maybe I started hating him during this period. I’m not sure._

“ _I just-”_

“ _Go back to your room. If you can’t behave like a good young girl you won’t come out of this room anymore. Am I clear?”_

“ _What? But-”_

“ _Am I clear?”_

_I was furious. How could he?! Hadn’t he take enough of me already!? How could he do that to me! I had nothing else! Didn’t he know that!?_

“ _Do it then. I’ll break free anyway.” I dared him._

_Oh, innocent child. He looked at me with those cold eyes of his, and grab my arm. Before I could even blink, I was back in my room, door closed. I was furious._

_However, as I started to know how this place worked, I decided to wait. I just had to be a bit patient, and he’ll low his guard like every time. So I bite back my temper and waited for an occasion. I figured maybe a day would be enough._

_Oh, the mistake._

_When my first teacher came for my lesson the morning after, I noticed a key on his hand. Immediately I had a bad feeling about it. I didn't say anything, but couldn't help but keep my eyes on it. The old man did his job and try to teach some battle strategy out of me. Not very successfully I admit. I wasn't really paying attention that day. Then, when he was done, he takes out the famous key from his pocket. Something blocked my throat. I was afraid of what that key meant for me._

_I waited._

_He opened the door, bow to me -like some kind of princess, God I hated that so much! - and close the door behind me. I almost stopped breathing, afraid as I was to miss the sound I was waiting for._

_I didn’t._

_I distinctly heard the key in the locked of my room. They had just locked me in my own room. Like a caged animal._

_My heartbeat fast in my chest. I couldn't believe it. I was trapped. More than what I've ever been. I couldn't- I couldn't bear it._

_I think it took me one good hour to recover from my panic attack. This time I was alone, as the next teacher I had to see was coming in the afternoon. I guessed Kuma's lack of visit was also part of the punishment._

_I wonder if Dragon didn't punish himself when he did that… As I think this is that peculiar event that took me to the path I followed after. The one that leads me here."_

* * *

The fire warmed her skin. His large hands were slowly caressing one of her arms, as his chin reposed on her shoulder. Both of their eyes were locked to the fire. Warm orange slowly licking their sunkissed carnation.

She had stopped talking for some minutes now, and he didn't really encourage her to go back to her story. It was quite a sad one, he thought distractingly. Not really surprising as he thought of it, and remember the stage she was when she came here, but still. Sad.

He closed his eyes, savoring the feeling of her naked skin against his own. She was smaller than him now and wasn’t that strange. They used to be the same height. His last growth spurt had left him with more arms and leg that he knew what to do with, but it did have one advantage. They were much more comfortable now in each other embrace. Or, well, he was. It felt good to have a smaller form to wrap around. Like she was meant to be between his arms. He liked that idea.

Not that he would ever voice something like that. Way too cheesy for him. She would laugh for sure.

“What are you thinking?” she asked, almost whispering.

“How small you are.”

She slapped his arm.

“Shut up.”

"But you are, really. I never realized how smaller than me you can be when you're not roaring at my ear like an angry cat.”

Her iron like nails pierced the skin of his left arm, making him hiss.

“I’m not that small you asshole. You just had this growth spurt that went up to your empty little head.”

“Empty head? Oh, I'll show you an empty head freaking cat!"

She laughed as he rolled her on her back, sliding himself between her legs and attacked her neck with groans and bites. She grabbed his hair to try to hold him back and reverse their position, but he was stronger than her. That bastard had grown some meat on those bones.

Not that she was complaining. Quite the contrary in fact.

Slowly, the atmosphere changed, as he replaced his playful bites with open-mouthed kisses all along her neck. She bites her lips and scratched his skull with gentle nails. Their current state of nakedness didn't hide well the interest he took on the activity.

“Look like someone’s in shape...”

"Well, I'm a growing boy. I have a lot of energy to spend… in _any way_ I want.”

She snorted and he put his head out of her neck. His hair was a mess. He was all flushed and red from their numerous kisses and his eyes were dark, as they often were when he looked at her.

He looked at her, losing himself in her bright blue eyes, his fingers buried in her dark hair. Their lips met without thinking. The kiss was slow, almost tender. A contrast compared to their usually more… passionate exchanges.

The boy let go of her lips and look at her. She looked back, slowly batting her eyelashes, as if she tried to chase the cloud from her eyes.

“So? What happened next?”

She smiled.

“You really want to listen to me babbling about my pitiful childhood?”

He shrugged, looking almost innocent. Saphyr sighed and let her head dropped against the sad excuse of a pillow.

“Alright. What do you want to know?”

“Everything. Come on tell me about all of your dirty little secrets.”

She laughs.

“Dumbass.”

He kissed her ear.

“Come on, Saphyr, tell me.”

* * *

_So, I stayed in this room for approximately one month. At first. No one let me out of it. I had my meals there, my lessons, even my training._

_Kuma thought my punishment was a good opportunity for me to learn some strange power he called Haki. I know he explained it to me, at some point, but I kind of forget it since. What I do know is that he spend long afternoons hitting my head randomly with a stick, while my eyes were blinded and asked me to dodge._

_Surprisingly, I didn’t. So I spend all of my afternoons being hit in the head with a damned stick. Without any hope to be able to know from where it came from. Bullshit._

_The days were long. So so long. I was bored to my bones. I missed the sun, the fresh air on my hair. I missed this feeling of freedom I could often taste as I made them run all days after me. The longer I was trapped here, the worst I felt. I woke up in the middle of the night, convinced that I was trapped in a cage. I was panicked, more often than not. During some of the worst days, I almost thought I was going to die here, alone in this room, without ever seeing the sun again._

_I hated this room. If before that I could barely stand it, during this punishment, I couldn’t even breath properly in this damned place._

_As days went by, I grew angrier and angrier toward my father and how he treated me. Hoping again to gain his approbation was now impossible, for I saw him as my personal tormentor, the man who kept me locked up like some tool waiting to be used. I didn't even felt human in his eyes. I felt like a tool. Nothing else._

_I hated him._

_Merely days before the end of the month, Dragon came to me._

_He closed the door behind him and locked his cold eyes onto mine. I sat in the corner of the room, my legs protectively in front of my small torso, arms around it, like a shield between me and him. I remember feeling my eyes burned with anger when I looked at him. I know he must have seen it, as his left eye twitched a little._

_We stayed a moment like that, just looking at each other, like animals ready to tear the other apart. At least that was how I felt._

“ _Will you run out again?”_

_I wanted to scream at him. But I wanted to go out more. I couldn’t bear to be in the room anymore._

“ _No.”_

_A lie. Of course, I thought of escaping again._

“ _I think you learned your lesson. So I’m going to let you go out again Saphyr. But one wrong move, one escape like you used to do way too often, and I’m putting you back in your room for another month. Am I clear?”_

_He looked serious. Way too serious. For one second he scared me. I didn’t want to be back in that room._

_I lasted one full month. One month of wonderful liberty, before I tried to resume my little habits again. The life my father was sealing didn’t appeal me anymore. Not like it did before._

_I wanted to feel like I had control over my little life._

_I couldn’t even do it once. As soon as I was out of my room, Dragon had me again, locked up in my room with a cold gaze and a promise that this time it would last longer._

“ _You have no time to play games, my girl. It is past time for you to grow up,” he said, his hand on the key._

“ _Let me out!”_

“ _You need to learn Saphyr.”_

_And I was alone again._

_I lasted two months this time. The longest month of my life. I swore myself that day, never again would I be left imprisoned in this room._

_I decided I was going to leave them behind._

_I don’t really like talking about this part of my life. Those two months_

* * *

“Why not?”

Saphyr sighed, her head hidden against his muscular arm.

“It’s the worst part of my life.”

“That much?”

She didn’t answer. He stayed silent too, for a little while. His hands gently playing with the tip of her hair.

“Do you want to tell the rest of it?”

“Thought you wanted to listen.”

“Well, we can still find something else to do,” he said mischievously, his hips slowly moving against hers.

She snorted.

“Talk about a one-track mind.”

He grinned, proud of him.

“You like that.”

She snorted again, her hand gripping his thigh.

“Alright, I’ll tell the rest. Might as well end up with it.”

“That’s my girl.”

Her claws pierced his skin. He twitched.

* * *

_He let me go after two endless month of misery and panic attacks. His gaze followed me for days. Warry._

_I knew I couldn’t just leave like that. They would find me directly. I had to buy my time. So I did just that. Despise my growing resentment against my father, I applied myself at being the most perfect little soldier I could be._

_I lasted six months._

_Just the time for them to grow confident in the idea that they broke my resolve. Or something like that._

_When they finally did, I acted._

_It was quite simple really. I knew what I wanted to do, I knew how I wanted to do it. All that was left was to actually do it._

_I knew the treasure room was supposed to keep everything precious to father and his organisation. In a spit moment, I decided I needed to take something. Anything. To show him how well I had rubbed him._

_I wanted revenge. Really I wasn’t picky. Anything would have worked. A simple plan. Of course, he wasn't going to work like he was supposed to._

_One morning, I went to my training with Kuma, just like everyday. In my mind, everything was in place. I knew where the entrance door was, and I knew it was guarded. But I also knew there was a window in the corridor right after the entrance, that was broken and didn't close well. I heard it from the guard themselves that complained constantly about being cold. I also knew they didn't report it to any of their chiefs, as the guy who was supposed to do it keep forgetting._

_My luck._

_Slowly, I put my usual pen in the doorstep, successfully blocking the lock. I cough at the same time, masking the potential noise the door might do._

_Anyone else would have found it suspicious. But this teacher was an old man, and a new face. He wasn’t use to my antics. So he didn’t even flinched._

_I waited for twenty minutes, just to be sure the man was really out of reach._

_It was hard, my heart kept beating harder and harder in my chest. But I was determined. Finally, I decided to act. I had a little bag on my back, stuffed with some clothes and food I had carefully kept from my meals. It was barely enough for one meal, but at the time I didn't have any idea of where I was. Or what it meant to miss a meal. I was a little princess. In my head, all I had to do was run long enough for them to lose me and then I would be free._

_Stupid little girl._

_The way to the room was quite easy. Nobody ever came around here anyway. I even wondered how they manage to put things in the room if they never came here. I still don't know when they actually do that._

_The inside of the room was just as I remembered it, long storages furniture, with big bocks full of money, a sac with gold, jewelry, all kind of precious things. Some old books looking at the verge of falling apart, different kinds of paper, old looking chest of all size._

_And in the middle of this mess, three fruits. One bright purple with strange spiraling motifs, one dark grey looking oddly like ashes and the last one a night blue with the same spirals as the first one. I choose the blue one, with a second of thinking, and put it carefully in my bag. It looked a bit like an orange, if not smaller._

_The treasure safety with me, started the second phase of my little plan. Hiding in the corridors._

_I was one staircase to the main goal -_ _the infamous open window-_ _when they noticed my disappearance. I could almost hear father’s roar._ _I_ _hide behind a curtain as a bunch of distraught-looking soldiers run past_ _me_ _, pipetting about the chief's daughter being missing. Again._

_That surprised me. I always thought my existence was some kind of big secret in the organization. Now I know it was because of my little adventures that it wasn’t the case. But at the time, it surprised me._

_I waited for a bit more, just enough for them to stay away from my precious window and the opportunity to run away that dealt with it._

_When I jumped that window, I've never felt so alive. My heart was frantic inside my chest, jumping with me to a freedom I was about to discover._

_I ran without thinking, or even looking around. The most important thing for me was to get as far as possible from the fortress. I could deal with the rest later._

_I ran for a long time. I ran until my legs felt like jello about to drop under me. I wanted to be far, far away from it._

_I don’t know how much I ran. At one point I found large rock, high enough to hide me completely even as I stood. I let myself fall against it until my bottom touched the floor. That was so exciting! The real world!_

_Safely hidden, I took my time to look out around me._

_To say I was disappointed is an understatement._

_There was nothing around. Just rock, sand and dirt. And rock. A lot of rock. More than disappointment, I felt panic. Without any forest or even a village, where could I hide? What was I supposed to do with myself? How could I escape my father’s army?_

_I kind of freaked out. So I ran. Again. My legs were trembling but I needed to go farther. I only thought of getting out of this place. I ran until nightfall._

_When the moon went high enough in the night sky, I hide behind another rock. I didn’t dare look behind me, scared of what I could have found. I didn’t know if I was followed or not. But I had learned enough of this Haki thing to know they could follow me pretty far. I needed to be very very far away to be safe. To get out of this place._

_I was tired, thirsty and more important hungry. But I had to keep going, while adrenalin still flew into my system. So after maybe five minutes of rest, I ran again. My legs hurt me like they never did before, as did my lungs. But the only thought of this empty room and the fate that waited for me back with my father kept me going. I couldn't give up. I wanted to live. To be as free as I could, to know this world Dragon wanted to protect. To show him what I could do, what he lost by treating me the way he did._

_I stopped again at dawn. I was exhausted, thirsty and hungry as hell. I had long since stopped running. A rock on the way made me fall, stopping abruptly my breath in my throat. My bag back falls next to me and shamelessly emptied itself on the dirt. Sighed, I tiredly started to bring everything back inside it. My hand grabbed the dark blue fruit before my brain could register what I was doing. Maybe I could… Why not?_

_Making the fruit disappear was even more troublesome than just stole it from Father if he was that important. No? If I ate the fruit, he couldn’t have it back anymore._

* * *

“Wait a minute, that’s how you eat your Devil fruit?”

“Well yes.”

He looked at her like she suddenly had a third head on her shoulder or something like that.

“Why do you make that face? What did you expect?”

“Something cooler! Smarter! How could you even be sure your father was going to notice it has disappeared!”

“I was seven you jerk. That was literally the first time I was on my own, outside, in the real world. I mean give me a break! As if you’d do better in a situation like mine!”

"I would! I grew up in the forest. I could totally be on my own alone on an island."

“Oh really? So you were that good the first time you went alone in the forest? With the Beast Lords and the unknown jungle. Or in the Grey Terminal?”

He took a thoughtful expression on his handsome face and Saphyr waited patiently for him to admit the truth.

“I don’t remember.”

“Liar.”

“Am not!”

“Are so!”

“Am not!”

“Are so!”

"I'm not! Besides you weren't there! How can you know if I lie or not!"

“I always know when you lie!”

He blushed. HA! Got him! Saphyr smiled, proud of her victory.

“So, can I continue, or are you gonna pout like the little boy you are!”

“Oh really? A boy?”

A teasing grin slowly flowered on his face. He trusted his hips once, proving his point without a word.

Saphyr bites her lip, repressing her moan inside her throat.

“You cocky little bastard.”

“Hm but you like that.”

She laughed and gripped one of his ass cheeks. He hissed as her iron-like nails pierced the skin.

“What are you, a beast?”

“Aw, But you like that.” she purred biting his ear.

He chuckled, they kissed and smiled at each other. It lasted a long while. Until he pulled back, curiosity stronger than his desire of he flesh.

Or something like that...

“Alright, so you were hungry and you ate the fruit like the innocent little kitty you were.”

“That’s the idea.” she nodded.

* * *

_Without thinking more about it, I took a large bite of the fruit, unknowingly selling my fate. The taste was awful. Once the first couple of seconds and drops of juice gulped into my throat, I almost puked. But I was so hungry, I ate it anyway. And I took another bite, and another. Until the entire fruit had disappeared. Then, I ate the little food I had with me in a matter of minutes. It calmed my hunger a bit, but not my thirst. It only made it worst. Stupid as I was, I had forgotten to bring water with me._

_I remember feeling hopeless and stupid, alone in a desert of rock, with nothing to eat or drink. Away from the only place I always knew, with no hope of returning there one day. Not that I really wanted it, deep down, I knew I’d rather have died than go back there. But, alone in a desert, with no food and no water, the idea of a real bed and a real meal was appealing._

_I was a child that had known nothing else after all. How could I think otherwise?_

_I fell asleep there, rolled in a tight ball, my face hidden in my knee. Scared and alone._

_I woke up hours later. I don’t know when exactly. But I knew, something was different. Something was wrong. Very wrong. I felt different._

_I opened my eyes, and yelp in astonishment. My vision had changed. My ears, my nose. It was like every single information I could gather hit me at the very same time. I couldn't even cope with everything. I could smell thousands of different things, every single thing that was around me. I could see more clearly than I ever was before. And my ears… I heard the tiny sound of an ant running something like three meters from me._

_I stood up and was faced with another change. I had black paws. And black legs, and black- A black tail. I was-_

_Well, I was a panther. A black one to be exact._

_I did what all girls of seven years old would have done in my shoes. Or, well, paw. I Freaked out. Like, badly. Really really badly. I try to scream but a roar came out of my throat. I try to talk but I could only mew like a little cat._

_Now, of course, I know I can talk in that form, as I can do it in every other form. But at the time, I was nothing but a little girl, who had no idea things like Devil fruit that give abilities to their possessor existed. I only knew some strange magic had punished me for sneaking out of my father’s care._

_Or, well, I interpreted it like that._

_I didn’t know what to do. So I did the first thing that came to my mind._

_I tried to go back to the fortress, following the path I thought I had taken. I definitely didn't want to go back there. But I was scared. Oh so scared._

_I think I kind of run in circles for some time. After maybe one hour or two of meaningless run in the rocky desert, I finally understood what I had to do. If I wanted to go back to where I came from, I had to follow my own sent. Luckily, as my form and smell sense were pretty new, I wasn't used to how I smelled. So I could follow my own piste pretty easily. I'm not entirely sure I could do the same today…_

_I followed my own path, feeling somewhat relieved to have a slight idea of what I was doing. Maybe someone in the fortress could help me. But as I came closer from the said fortress, my little brain caught up with me. How could I find help? I was changed into an animal, without the ability to speak -or so I thought – or any way to prove it was indeed me. I didn't even know how many peoples in there knew I exist to start with._

_But I had to try. Even if my chances to actually have any help were small at most, I had to try to find some help. I couldn’t stay like that._

_Of course, I was right._

_When I came close enough to the fortress to be noticed by the guards, they immediately tried to chase me away with their gun._

“ _Go away!” said the first one, a large gun against his shoulder. The thing looked enormous._

“ _Go! We said go you stupid beast!” said the second making little waving movements with his hands, a universal way to say ‘get lost’._

_I took a prudent step back, and try to mew. I didn’t know how to make them understand my distressing stage._

_That pitiful little sound was useless of course. The men did the thing they were trained to do. They shot me. I jumped out of the bullet and mewed again. The other one shoots too. Stopping me from getting another step._

“ _I said go! Stupid animal!”_

“ _Why is it even there?”_

“ _Who knows? It must have smelt the food inside the fortress. Or human smell.”_

_I didn’t stay to hear the rest of their conversations. I was scared of their gun and the bullet had been way too close for my comfort. I ran. Again._

_I don’t know for how long. I was scared and lost. I didn’t know how to turn back to my initial state, and I didn’t know where to go for help without being killed at first sight._

_I felt hopeless._

_I think my mind kind of broke after that. I don't remember anything for several days after that first one. I never could, no matter how hard I tried. I think I let my instinct took charge of everything. I don't even know how long I stayed like that. Living like a beast, hunting, eating, sleeping, like the panther I became._

_The first thing I recall after those few weeks, was a night._

_The moon was full, and the sky was dark. I had run all the way to the edge of the island, and stood on a cliff, contemplating the ocean for the first time. I think I remember it because I thought of my father and my brother. Of all the dreams I had, while I was alone in my empty room. The wind keeps pulling me away from the edge, and I didn't resist much. I think I had already discovered how weak I was against water._

_I was trying to make peace with the destiny that seemed to await me. With this human life, I couldn't have back._

_Then I was controlled again by the beast inside me. I lived a lonely life. For so long I get used to it at one point. I almost enjoyed it._

_It lasted for months. Sometimes I would think again, and remember who I was. Other times I would simply let it go._

_I could spend entire weeks without thinking even once of what used to be my life. But as time passed, and as I grew used in this new situation, I thought more and more. It was harder to forget when everything I did became a habit and not something I had to focus on to survive._

_One day, maybe five or six months after my transformation, I spend an entire day of my routine, thinking like a human, while acting like a tawny._

_I had my own territory. I fed myself from everything I could find. Fruits at first, then meat, when I learned how to hunt. There weren't many preys in my little territory. But it was enough for my small self. I was still a baby. A small little cub. I didn't need that much food to survive. That also meant I was always hungry. As much as I had enough to stay alive, I wasn’t satiated. I needed more to really grew._

_When I started to remember again, I tried to explore my own capacities. I trained, in a way. I ran as fast as I could and as long as it was possible. Each day longer and longer. I tried to attack everything that moved around me, testing my claws and fangs against everything. I had this need to be stronger, as I knew what humans were capable of._

_I knew I had to be strong to survive them. Stronger than the thing I used to be._

* * *

“How did you know that?” asked her public, interrupting the story once more.

Saphyr looked at the ceiling, thinking hard for a moment. Then her eyes fell on her right leg.

"I don't remember it. But I think somebody shoots me. Or hurt me at least, during those days."

“Why?”

"Well I don't know where I made this scar for a start," she said, showing the long white ugly trait on her calf. "And every time I crossed a human in my territory, I thought of this scar, and of a pain that lasted for days. But that's all I have about it."

“You think someone tried to kill you?”

“Of course. I was a predator, a beast, close to the fortress. And I ate their preys. My father’s hunter hated me.” she said with a smile full of teeth.

“… You look scary like that.”

"Why thank you! No shut up and let me finish," she ordered, gently slapping his arm.

He chuckled but didn't say anything else. Satisfied, she keeps going, ignoring the smile she could fell in her hair.

* * *

_I scared more than one human during my days. It tasted like revenge. The knowledge that I was a nuisance to my father army, even a small one. And I loved the idea of my father pissed off because of me. That was so good to imagine._

_But of course, it couldn't last. With time and the arrival of winter, the cold weather obliged me to move out of my territory, closer to the fortress. The cold wasn't that bad, but as much as my body was covered in fur, I wasn't made for cold temperature. And I hated the snow. I hated the feel of it under my paws. It was like the cold wetness slipped between my pads, and didn't go for hours and hours._

_God did I hated it._

_Consequently, one day, I run into a familiar face._

“ _Sa-chan?”_

_It took me some time to recognize Ivankov's voice. I was so used to my new ears, and I never heard his voice like that before. It seemed stronger, a deeper voice, that what I remember._

_I liked him. I always did. He was part of my father’s little gang so he wasn’t very trustable, but I still liked him. He was the one I used to trust the most with Kuma. Both of them always seemed to want to help me. One way or another. To my little mind, it was enough. So I jumped right in front of him, expectingly waiting for him to explain how he did recognize me._

“ _Sa-chan is that you?”_

_I nodded, jaw closed. My eyes keep running up and down on him. I could see so much more than before. The details that never even occurred me before. The little motifs on his pink bodice, invisible for who didn't know they were there. Or didn't have my sight. The strong smell of his perfume. The bright color of his purple hair. Everything._

“ _It's really you… So you did stole the fruit. Why- Why did you run away? Why didn't you come back! Why- Why did you eat this fruit? Kami Sa-chan did you had any idea of what it was?!"_

_I lean my head. Why did he want to know all of this? Couldn't he guess the answers?_

“ _You could at least respond girl!”_

_I roared, fang shining under the sun. He didn’t have anything to say to me. He didn’t have the right to talk to me like that._

_Ivankov seemed to understand, a bit, what I meant. He sighed and signed me to follow him._

“ _Come girl. Let’s go talk to your father.”_

_Well… liking him could only have pull him that far. That was clearly too much for me._

_I roared again, taking a defensive pose. I had absolutely no desire to see him again. I knew he was going to put me back in that room. And I absolutely didn’t want it. If before I ate my fruit I was attached to the little freedom I had, now, after I tasted the real freedom_ _I couldn’t even imagine giving it up_ _. There was no chance for me to go back to this excuse of a life._

“ _What is it? You don’t want to see your father? You ungrateful child!”_

_I bite the air, a warning for him not to come closer._

“ _Do you have any idea of how long your father has been looking for you? Almost a year! A year young girl! It’s unacceptable! Do you have any idea how worried he was?”_

_I didn’t believe for a minute he actually was worried about me. And I didn’t want to follow him. I bite the air again, and growl slowly, dangerously._

“ _Come one girl! Don’t act like a beast! You could at least talk to me!”_

“ _I can’t!”_

_That surprised me. The voice came from me. I could talk. If I hadn't been in my fur, Ivankov could have read embarrassment in my red face. I blessed my fur that day. I supposed it was for the best that he didn't understand what I meant._

_"What are you talking about, of course, you can! You know you can talk to me girl!"_

_I didn’t let him have me that day. I ran away before he could say anything else._

_After that first meeting, it took three days for Father's army to found me again. They didn't give me any choice that day. They shot me with some drug or something and when I opened my eyes, I was back on the fortress. In a large room, I vaguely recognized._

_I was laying in a large couch, in front of an even larger desk, with a dark chair and a giant window behind it. And in front of all of this, the long silhouette of my father looked down at me. I bared my teeth, ignoring the uneasiness I had about all of this. He frowned._

“ _Don’t try to groan at me Saphyr. It won’t work.”_

“ _Why? Because you’re an adult and I’m a little child?” I asked back, bitter._

“ _No. Because you’re not that intimidating in your human body.”_

_I looked at my hands with surprise. Then kept looking. For a long time. It had been so long since I last saw them, I almost couldn’t believe it._

_I think I stayed like that for maybe five full minutes before I spoke again._

“ _How did you do it?”_

“ _Do what?”_

“ _How did you turned me back?”_

_He blinked, looking almost surprised for a minute._

“ _I didn’t do anything. You turned back by yourself.”_

_"What? No- I- I can't do that. I never could."_

_He looked at me strangely. Like it was the first time he actually looked at me before. I could almost think it was._

_Then he asked._

“ _Do you even know what happened to you?”_

“ _No.”_

_He looked away for a minute. Then he looked back. He opened his mouth and explained everything to me. What I ate, why it turned me, why I could talk within my animal form. Everything. It helped calm me a little. But I couldn’t be really at ease with him in the same room. Of course, being the smart leader of the Revolution that he was, he quickly noticed it._

“ _Saphyr. Would you mind explain to me why you run away from home?”_

“ _It’s not my home! You can’t take me back to this room! You won’t make me!” I screamed immediately, crawling back in the couch like a cornered animal._

_I was a cornered animal, in a way. Without even thinking about it, I transformed back into my animal self and showed my teeth._

“ _Calm down Saphyr I didn’t say I was going to bring you back there.”_

“ _I don’t believe you!”_

“ _Saphyr-”_

“ _You want to- want to lock me away again! Like you did before! I won’t let you! I’d rather die than spend another month locked up in this fucking room!”_

“ _Saphyr!”_

_I didn’t listen anymore. I didn’t want to hear him try to convince me to do what he wanted, or not even try, just ordering me to do what he wanted me to do. I couldn’t. I panicked. I think he tried to restrain me, but I don’t remember well. At some point I think he pulls me against him, blocking my limbs with his arms, just enough to keep me from tearing everything apart with my claws._

“ _Knock her off!”_

“ _No!”_

_"Dragon she's panicking, she needs to calm down."_

_"You think I don't know that? No one touches my daughter!"_

“ _Then do it yourself! But do something!”_

“ _I’m trying!”_

_Everything went black then. When I woke up, I was on the same couch, but it was dark outside. I didn’t open my eyes at first, just listening to the quiet voices around me._

“ _Are you sure this is a good idea?”_

“ _I should have done it in the beginning. This was a bad idea to keep her here.”_

“ _Don’t be like that Dragon. She’s still your daughter.”_

_"And she hates me."_

_The second voice, the one I didn’t know stayed silent for a second. I guessed they were talking about me._

“ _Are you sure this is the right decision?”_

“ _He will take good care of her.”_

“ _From what I know he’s not the most patient man. How can you be sure he’ll agree?”_

_"She's his granddaughter. He'll agree. His family is important for him."_

“ _Where will he put her?”_

_"In our home town, I think. That's where both he and I were born. He like this kind of things."_

“ _What things?”_

“ _Symbolism.”_

_I opened my eyes without thinking of it, curiosity burning inside my head. Who were they talking about? Granddaughter?_

_My eyes fell into my father’s gaze._

“ _Saphyr.”_

_I didn’t respond, still mad at him for taking me back to the very place I hated more than anything. At the time._

“ _You’re not going back to your room.”_

_That made me react._

“ _What?”_

“ _I’m going to send you to your grandfather, Garp. He’ll take care of you from now on.”_

_I was surprised. I didn't know at the time I had a grandfather._

_But then anger flew back inside me. He was- He was throwing me away. Like some kind of trash or an old tool no longer useful. How- How could he do that?! It wasn't that I wanted to stay with him. But back then, I had spent half of my life trying to be the perfect little girl he wanted me to be. And just when I start to act as someone, with my own opinion, suddenly it wasn't good enough for him to lose his precious time on._

_He didn’t let me talk though._

“ _You’ll have your chest with all of your stuff with you. Everything that was in your old room. You’re leaving tomorrow.”_

_I didn't talk still astonished with what I just learned. He looked at me, his tattooed face as expressive as usual, then he got up, and went to the door, the unknown man on his tail. I didn't even notice the other man._

_Once in front of the door, he stopped._

“ _Saphyr...”_

_I didn’t respond. I couldn’t talk._

“ _I’m-” he clenched he teeth, then sighed “… Good luck.”_

_He left the room. It was the last time I saw him._

_The day after, early in the morning, the man I didn't know took me with him in a boat, away from the island I grew to hate and love at the same time, and from everything I ever knew. He said his name was Lindbergh, that he was a mink and he was going to help me with my Devil fruit along the travel to my grandfather._

_I didn’t understand why he was asked to help, as he wasn’t like me, a devil fruit user but a mink, so born half human half animal. But I wanted to be able to control what I could do, so I didn’t complain._

_It seemed he was kind of knowledgable in the Devil fruit department. At least he knew enough to be useful. Or maybe it was related to the more feral department? Mink were half animals after all. Like me in a way…_

_I don’t know, it doesn’t make much sense all of this…_

_For the month it took for us to go from Baltingo to the place where we were supposed to meet my grandfather, Lindbergh tried to teach me as much as he could. That's when I noticed how much of the precedent lessons I had forgotten during my time as a panther._

_The trip was boring. I was the only child on board and Dragon didn't want many members of the crew to know about me. They only had to take me to the right place. So I spend almost all of my time in this damned cabin. In a way, it was worse than in my lonely room. The cabin was small. Very small. At some point, it was like the walls started to close up on me. In the end, I couldn't even sleep in the room. I was too tense, too scared that the door was never going to open again._

_Just for making it worse, the said door was grey. I just had to close my eyes some time to hear my mother's screams._

_When we arrived at the small island where the Revolutionary army was supposed to deliver me to my grandfather, I almost flew to the beach, loving every step I could take on the real floor, every breeze of real wind. I ran a good while on the beach, simply enjoying the sensation._

_Then I noticed him._

_A large man, with board shoulder, way taller than Dragon, but not as much as Kuma. His face looked similar to Father’s if not more squared around the jaw. He had white hair that must have been black at some point, and a large scar under one of his eyes. He looked at me severely for a minute. Then his face broke in a large D shaped smile._

“ _GAHAHAHAHAHAH so it’s you! My granddaughter!!”_

_He opened his large arms, and before I could even blink, I found myself buried under a massive torso, squeezed almost to death by that man I didn't even know._

_It took me two seconds to react. When I did, I clawed my way out of his arms. He made a tiny yelp, more with surprise than hurt I think, and let go of me._

_I immediately showed him my fangs, menacingly growling at him._

“ _She’s a bit savage Garp-san.”_

_The man made a noise, something like disappointment or exasperation maybe. To me, it sounded like someone had stolen his toy or something._

“ _What? Another one? What is it with those kids and Devil fruit!”_

_I didn't think much about that. I stopped listening as Lindbergh started to explain the situation to this Garp. Then, just like that, the Revolutionary army left me there, on this beach. With my chest and this man, who apparently raised my father._

_I became rather quickly acquainted with my dear grandfather’s love._

_In one of his ‘Love fist', he ordered me to transform back, as he wanted to know me and not some kitty I could turn into._

_BANG._

“ _That’s hurt! You crazy old man!”_

_"SHADDAP! That was my Love, you ungrateful little girl! What is it with this attitude! Your father did a poor job with you, young girl! Why did he even keep you if he gave me your brother?! Honestly I'll never understand what's going on in this thick head of his."_

“ _Brother…?”_

_"Ha?" he looked at me, form under his nose like he forgot I was here for a second._

_Knowing the guy as I do now, he probably did._

“ _Yeah, your brother. Luffy."_

_Luffy. It has been so long since I’ve heard that name. My heart was beating inside my chest. Luffy. I was going to see him again. Luffy._

_I was going to have my little brother back._

_"I want my brother back. Take me to him, old man."_

“ _Oi! Show some respect little brat!” he fumed._

_I had one enormous budge on the top of my head at the end of the day, but I was going to see my brother again. That was more important. I couldn't wait. I was so impatient to see him again, to not be alone anymore. After all those years._

_The travel in Grandfather’s ship was better than with the Revolutionary. At least I wasn’t confined inside my cabin. I spend my days on the deck, exploring at first, then just walking around. Some times climbing on the nest. I liked that, actually. Maybe the cat inside me…_

_We arrived at night. The island was quiet, and the small village where we came first was sweet and peaceful._

* * *

"Yeah, Fushia. I know the place you know?"

“Shut your mouth. It’s my story.”

“Well stop adding unimportant details then!”

“I said shut up!”

* * *

_He didn't even let me admire the place for more than five minutes before he drags me deep into the forest. I was completely amazed by the place. I've never been in a forest before, I've never even seen a real tree before then. For me, this forest was magic._

_Then, when we came close to a large house in the middle of the forest, with light and noise inside, my heart starts to beat faster inside my chest. That was it. I was going to see him for the first time in years. My baby brother. I remembered his chubby little face, with large chocolate eyes, and gummy smile. I couldn’t wait._

_He opened the door. Finally._

* * *

“And then you met us!”

Saphyr rolled her eyes and slapped his head.

“Yeah, and then I met you.” she groaned between her teeth.

And what a meeting it as indeed she thought, remembering almost fondly this disastrous day. That brat.

Ace sighed and looked at her, twisting his neck to have a glimpse of her angular face. He remembered it quite well too. How she came with the old man, looking grumpy and half-savage with her long hair puffed around her head, her old shirt almost torn out of her small body, her long arms, and long legs. But what he remembered the most, was her blue eyes, fierce and wild. He thought briefly that day, _she almost looks like me_.

Of course, he never voiced it. He knew how much she liked to bite her way out of a conversation.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o Dandan hiding place, Five years ago. o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Dandan was still trying to deal with those damned boys, as they were again inviting themselves in her home, stealing her food and making a mess of everything, when suddenly the door opened quite violently.

“WHAT? WHO DARE COME Toooaaaaah- GARP-SAN!” she squealed, immediately melting on the floor, in a puddle of graciousness submission to the Marine hero who held her and her gang’s life inside this massive scary fist of his.

“DANDAN!” his voice boomed inside the room like a cry of thunder. “I HAVE A JOB FOR YOU!”

“HEEEEEEE JIJI!!!” squealed Luffy.

“Che- shitty old man!” groaned Ace, immediately on his guard.

Sabo didn’t comment, but his face was as tensed as his brother’s.

Garp visits were always a bad thing for them. He still remembered the last one. The boy was pretty sure he lost at least half of the totality of his brain capacity with each “Fist of Love” the old man gave him. And did he gave them a lot!

“WHAT? NOT A KID AGAIN! I HAVE ENOUGH WITH THOSE DAMNED BOYS!”

“What?” groaned menacingly the man, looking all tall and intimidating with his high and the shadow created by the light behind him.

“N-n- Everything for you Garp-san!” Dandan corrected herself, bowing again, just to be sure.

Garp glared at her for two more seconds, then laugh loudly, looking pleased with himself. Sabo and Ace both took a prudent step back, not like when the crazy old man was laughing like that. In fact, for them, everything was suspicious coming from him.

“Don’t worry Dandan!” he laughed, strongly slapping the woman on the back like an old friend. “I didn’t bring you a boy this time!”

The manly lady's shoulders dropped a few inches. Good, at least she wouldn't have one more kid to look after.

“This is Saphyr! My granddaughter! Luffy’s older sister!”

Just like in a theatre, the old man took a step to his right, letting everyone see what was behind him.

…

What was behind him…

Behind…

Nothing.

“HEEE! WHERE DID SHE WENT AGAIN!?” screamed the man, eyes popping out of their socket.

“A GIRL?” screamed Dandan.

That was even worse than a boy!

“SISTER?” irked Ace, outraged.

Luffy was their brother! Sabo’s and his. Who was this girl thinking she could steal him form them like that!?

"I have a sister?" asked Luffy with all the innocence he could get. Which was a lot?

“WHERE IS SHE? DANDAN!”

"HOW COULD I KNOW OLD MAN I NEVER SAW THE GIRL!" she responds just as loudly. "HOW MANY GRANDCHILDREN DO YOU HAVE YOU OLD GOAT!"

“NANI?”

Her bravery didn’t last more.

“I-I I’ll found her immediately Garp-san!”

They all stopped when I tiny sound came from outside. Just something walking on a stick.

At the edge of the forest, a pair of piercing blue eyes were glowing in the dark. A low growl could be heard.

“W-what is this?”

The three boys came closer, their iron stick firmly holds in their little hands. However, before any of them could do anything, Garp put himself in front of them, fist on the hips, like a reprimanding parent.

“Saphyr! What did I say? No transformation!”

“Transformation?” asked someone behind him.

The eyes blinked, and a long silhouette came out of the dark. Luffy blinked, then looked at Ace, who blinked and looked at Sabo, who blinked and looked back at Ace. And so on.

In front of them was a slim silhouette, covered with thick black fur. She was wearing an old grey shirt, really worn up, and long shorts that were falling on its knees. The small boots on their feet completed the strange outfit. A mass of black was pointing in every direction on the top of their head and two piercing blue eyes keep going from one face to the other.

“Is that… an animal?” asked one bandit.

“A person?” asked another.

“A mystery pet!” exclaimed Luffy, like he had just found the answer to the most important question in the entire world.

...

Well, he wasn't exactly wrong per se...

Piercing eyes fell on Luffy, looking at his smiling face with the intensity of a starving beast, not at all appeasing for the two brothers of the boy.

Slowly in front of their eyes, the dark fur retracted itself, like it's never been here, to begin with, leaving room for pale skin, patched with mud and dirt at several places. The strange muzzle became the round face of a little girl. Only the eyes didn't change, just as blue and piercing as they were since the beginning.

“Luffy?”

“Ha? You know me?”

She blinked and took a step to him.

“Step back!” raged Ace, menacing her with his bo.

“Who are you?” asked Sabo, just as menacing.

“This is Monkey D. Saphyr. My granddaughter.” presented Garp.

“WHY BRINGING HER HERE TOO?!”

Garp shrugged, searching in his nose with one pinky.

“Dragon had her with him. He didn’t want her anymore so he gave her to me.”

“WHAT IS IT A GIRL OR A PET!?” asked astonished a bunch of bandit from the house.

“D-D-Dragon?!”

“Ha? Dragon? Where? Jiji know a Dragon?!” asked Luffy looking everywhere for the mystical beast.

“Who’s Dragon?” asked Ace, understanding a bit more.

“My son. Saphyr and Luffy’s father.”

Sabo opened big round eyes, his face slowly turning paler and paler.

“D- Dragon as in the Revolutionary Dragon? The most wanted man in the world?!”

“They said he’s a monster! Without mercy!” some mumbled behind a still very shocked Dandan.

Saphyr snorted, uncovering her teeth for one second.

“I have a Tou-chan?” asked Luffy, lost in all this conversation.

“Who cares? He didn’t want you anyway. And he didn’t want me neither at the end.”

Every single pair of eyes fall on the little girl. She was still looking at her brother, and was closer now than before, to Ace’s surprise.

“He? Why?”

“Because he can’t use us.” she shrugged and stretched out a hand.

Ace slapped it away with his bo.

“Don’t touch him!” he growled.

She bares her teeth, reviling piercing fangs that were not supposed to be here.

Garp continued, not bothering looking at the kid’s display.

"Anyway! I brought her stuff with her, it's in the chest." Dandan's eyes started to glint at the mention of a chest. "There's nothing really interesting in there, a bunch of books, some clothes, and toys. So you don't have to bother with that."

She wouldn’t have anyway.

“I take my leave then! KIDS! Say goodbye to your loving grandpapa!”

“By ji-chan!”

“Bye Old man!”

“Shitty Jiji.”

Three head fumed from a demonstration of love something like two seconds later.

“SAPHYR! Kiss your grandpa.”

She roared and jumped away, changing her skin in the process. Of course, Garp didn't hear of it and punched her in the head like the others.

And that was it. Saphyr had to live with them now. Just like that.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o Present Day o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

“That was quite a day.”

She hummed against his arm and looked at him again. They sure had come a long way since then. Long enough to sleep together at least. Which reminded him.

"So, are you done with all of your storytelling?"

“Why, did I bored you?”

“I thought I was going to die from boredom.”

“Asshat. You asked for it.”

“I was being polite. It’s not my fault you can’t understand the concept.”

“Shut up. I know when you lie.”

"No, you don't."

“Bet I do.”

He was going to respond, but she decided she needed to occupy his lips with something else. Presently, her own.

Their embrace quickly went from a soft kiss to a passionate exchange, hands traveling from arms to shoulders to back, and so on.

Ace rolled to be on top of her and made his way to her neck, kissing every inch of skin he could find. He couldn't get enough of it. This thing between them was smoldering almost since they met.

The sexual part at least was there since he had his first boner. Every wet dream he had was about those eyes, and skin, and body. It was almost romantic how there never was any other girl for him.

In truth, she annoyed him so much, he didn't have time to look for any other potential girl.

He still didn’t understand how he went from not being able to be in the same room than her without wanting to strangle her, or at least hit her with everything he had, to passionately make out with her behind a tree every chance he got.

He didn't really care how in fact. He liked that. He liked her. He could even grow to love her when they were like that, just the two of them, talking to each other. Without screaming.

Maybe they could make this work.

“Ace...” she sighed into his ear, pressing her groin against his with impatience.

He hissed against her skin the familiar urge to Devore her growing inside his belly in a hot puddle of aching want. He couldn't get enough of her. Never enough. He needed her to get closer, always closer to silence the voice inside him that screamed to get her closer and never let go She was his, his alone No one could touch her she was his.

It was never enough. 

"Ace..." she called again and Ace bite back a groan.

Saphyr. 

She twisted under him and Ace felt his hands grip her waist tighter His hips moved before he even though about it and she gasped. He had to close his eyes to control himself. 

He could make this work. He could. He could. 

Because he didn't know if he'll ever be able to let this girl go. 

The strangled moan that escaped her shut his brain out just as easily as any narcoleptic crisis.

For the rest fo the night nothing else mattered. 

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o Almost Two Years Later, the hiding place in the trees o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

They were all here. The four of them. Looking at each other, waiting for the braver to start the conversation.

Saphyr felt Ace’s fingers slowly playing with her own behind both of their back. Luffy, in front of her, was playing with his infamous hat, looking at all of them with a seriousness unusual from him. Ange sat close to the entry, looking all tall light and broody with a scroll in his face. Saphyr didn’t have to think much to know the reason behind this mood.

Looking at Ange was always a good way for her to feel grateful for Luffy. Little sisters seemed way more troublesome than little brothers.

And annoying too.

Since she met the boy, he was always followed by his sister, a pissy little thing who liked to believe everything was due to her. Like she was some kind of precious being born to be pampered by her brother.

Saphyr couldn’t stand the girl.

The thing is, Ange was THE only friend she had in this place. Luffy was her brother so he didn’t really count in the matter, and Ace and her never been something like friends. They argue, they fight, and since more recently they make out. And have sex. A lot. But they certainly weren't friends. Lovers were more accurate.

Ange was the only friend she ever had. So, in a way she had to support the annoying presence of the girl. As she was determinate to spend all of her precious time with her brother. And the folk that usually spend days with him. Aka herself. She couldn’t really blame the girl for her lack of trust in her, Luffy and Ace. The three of them didn’t have a good reputation with the inhabitants of Goa. Or even Fushia on a lesser note. But nothing obliged her to follow them everywhere…

Ace’s fingers pressed Saphyr’s, effectively pulling her out of her train of thought. Was he going to talk?

He took a deep breath and let go of her hand.

"I'm going. In two days," he announced with a solemn air.

What a drama queen…

“We know. I’m going in three years!” immediately responded Luffy, looking just as grave.

Ange rolled his eyes.

"Not the point Lu," she said before anyone could snap at the boy.

He pouted.

“I wanted to talk to you…” continued Ace, his eyes in hers “because I want an answer.”

"To what? You didn't ask any question."

Ange snorted. Saphyr raised an eyebrow. She couldn’t deny it. It was true. She looked at her little brother. He seemed very proud of himself.

It didn’t prevent the vein on Ace’s forehead to inflate.

“I want to know what you guys are going to do.”

“I’m going to train super hard for three years and then I’ll begin my journey to be the PIRATE KING! Are you stupid Ace?”

"SHADDAP! I WASN'T TALKING TO YOU!"

“Meany!”

“RAAAAH LUFFY SHUT UP!”

the boy laughs, clearly enjoying his brother's reactions.

“Anyway- Will you come with me?”

He looked at Saphyr directly. She looked back, not flinching. She knew he wanted her to come with him. She wouldn’t mind. Only-

She didn’t want to be parted from her baby brother. Never again. She made a promise to herself, the day she learned she was going to see him again.

_I'll make Mother proud._

"You know the answer freckles," she responded, knocking his shoulder with her own. "I have an empty-headed brother to educate."

“Yeah like you’re better.”

"Fuck you, feathers."

“Now don’t be mean. Ace could be jealous.”

“Like you could approach her without losing a limb!”

“I don’t understand!”

The three older teenagers stopped their arguing to look at the younger one.

"Who goes? Saphyr is going with Ace? But you said you'll be part of my crew?"

“She’s saying just that Luffy.”

“He?”

“I’m going to help you becoming the Pirate King brother.”

“Onto? YEAH! Awesome! I already have one member on my crew! And I didn't even leave the place yet! I'm AWESOME!”

“Tch. Brat.”

“You’re Jealous! You leave tomorrow and you don’t have anyone!”

“Who’s jealous rubber head?!”

“Ace is jealous!”

“Am not!”

“You are!”

“Am not!”

“You are!”

“Shut up Brat!”

As the two boys started their squabble, Saphyr stood up and went closer to the only blond in the place.

“What will you do?”

“I’m not sure yet.”

“Better decide quickly, he’s moving soon.”

He snorted again and looked at her.

“I’m surprised.”

“Of what?”

“Thought you’d rather go with lover boy there.”

She frowned her nose, not liking one bit the nickname.

“Don’t call him that.”

“That’s what he is S. From what I’ve heard, he’s pretty good at this.”

“What? You want a piece? Too bad the boy is mine.”

He laughs shaking his head.

"Nah. Not my type. Besides I don't think you'll let me get close enough."

“You bet.”

No one touched what was hers. And this boy, all in muscles and cute freckles was hers since the day he first kissed her.

"Aren't you worried? He's your boy, and you won't see him for a long time if you let him go all on his own."

Saphyr looked at Ace's bareback. She liked his new habit to not wear any shirts. He did grow up in all the right places. She wasn't that interested in physical appearances, but even she could say she was a sight for sore eyes. If she could see it, no doubt others will do too.

But she had an idea. A way for everyone else to understand this eye candy was hers.

"Don't worry. When I'm done with him, everyone will know who he belongs to."

“You’re kind of scary you know that?”

She smiled, flashing her shiny fangs.

“Don’t sweet talk with me hon’. I’m taken.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o**

Two days later, just as promised, Ace was on the road. He was on his little boat, wearing a bright yellow shirt with his brand new orange hat that made Saphyr blinked several times. Only he could wear something like that and still look dashing.

Orange kind of was his color.

On his left arm, a brand new tattoo was proudly showing. His own name, with an S in the middle, crossed. A little fantasy he wanted to add on himself after his little chat with his girl. On his other shoulder, another tattoo was hidden by his shirt. A response to Saphyr’s own left shoulder.

It was kind of selfish, and maybe stupid to do something like that just to prove they belonged to the other. But right now, Saphyr couldn’t regret it. In a way, he couldn't forget her now. Ace and her, that was for life now.

“So this is it!” he said with a strong voice, opening his arms as if to show to the rest of them his boat, bag, and the ocean. "I'm leaving!"

Luffy jumped on his toes, looking even more excited than usual.

“Just you wait! I’ll surpass you once I’ve left too!”

“Sure you do Lil’ brother, sure you do!” laugh Ace, happiness flowing out of his being.

He looked at her, and she looked back.

“So. You’re sure you don’t want to come with me?”

She smirked. Maybe Ange wasn’t completely wrong. He was a lover boy.

“Don’t be a child babe. We both know if I come you won’t have time to do any kind of piracy.”

“He? Why?”

Ace blushed, but didn't lose his smile, she could give him that.

“You won’t hold it without me. You’ll miss me too much.”

“You’ll be the first to call hon’, that I can bet.”

“What are you talking about?”

"I'll tell you when you'll grow up Lu'."

Ange snorted, ignoring Saphyr's last comment.

“They’re talking about sex Lu.”

“Ange!” protested both teenagers.

The younger boy frowned his nose.

“The thing they do when they disappear behind a tree and breath a lot?”

Saphyr felt her cheeks burn. Did he saw them?

“Luffy-”

“Looks boring.” explained the straw hat boy, shrugging.

The three older teenagers blinked. Once. Twice. Then decided to deal with the talk later.

“Soooo what about you Ange? Coming with me?”

The blond boy looked thoughtful for a second, then shacked his head.

“Nah. I’ll stay.”

"So you're joining my crew too, Ange?!" asked Luffy excitingly.

The boy smiled, without answering.

Ace pouted for a second, then sighed. Well, it wasn't like he had any choice in the matter.

“Alright I’m on my way then!” he said, already turning to set sail.

"Hold on Cowboy!"

Without a warning, two hands grabbed the back of his shirt and turned him around. Before he could register what was happening to him, a pair of hungry lips grabbed his own and managed to suck his soul out of his body.

Wow.

He responded just as passionately after a second or two of realization. With his hand, he grabbed his girl's ponytail and pull her closer, savoring the heat of her skin, the taste of her lips, just one last time.

She let go of him, out of breath, cheeks reds and eyes a bit brighter than what was usual.

"Don't forget Cow-boy, all of this is mine," she growled against his mouth, her hands palming his torso like a satisfied cat.

"And this is mine," he responded just as possessively, grabbing her ass.

“Seriously get a room!” complained a voice in Saphyr’s back.

She grinned, and let go of him, jumping back next to Luffy before Ace could do anything else.

“Take care freckles.”

“You too kitty.”

See you out there…

**THE END.**

**Saphyr will return!**

**Author's Note:**

> Heya!
> 
> So this is something I had in the bottom of a drawer for a loooong time and I recently tried to work on the main story behind this shit. Because yes there is a story behind this craziness!  
> The kind of story that everyone loves to hate where the author looove to start the story again from the very beginning of the story. Just because.
> 
> So as this is a one-shot, for those who are interested in what's next, I think I will try to post the story soon. I don't know why because, as I saw in my other story, having a couple of chapters in advance might help you in case of blank page syndrome (is it something in English? Still French sorry guys!)  
> Sooo, I hope you enjoyed that, and I guess I'll see you next time?  
> Don't hesitate to share your opinion girls and boys! I always love to know what you all think about what I do!  
> I live for comments!  
> (No I'm not dramatic that's not true!)


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